This blog exists to support liberatory collectivist activism that is anti-patriarchy, anti-colonialism, and anti-capitalism. It also seeks to center the experiences, theories, and agendas of radical and feminist women of color.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Why Isn't Anderson Cooper REALLY Keeping Them Honest?? Because U.S. Billionaires With Corporate Welfare Protections and UNTAXED Foreign Bank Accounts and Other Billionaire Corporate Pimps Control The Media

I see you as one of very few voices in media who might be willing to tell the truth to the U.S. American people. I hope you have the integrity and corporate backing to do that, but I doubt you have the latter even if you do have the former.

Why don't you keep them honest and keep us informed about how the richest U.S. citizens are protected from paying their fair share of taxes? Why don't you report on how corporate loopholes still exist, how foreign bank accounts exist, and how much U.S.-earned money is siphoned off and stashed there by the richest U.S. Americans? And how that money only goes to the families of the wealthiest citizens due to corrupt inheritance laws--it doesn't go into the economy generally.

Why don't you report on how the discussion about the rich only wanting what is "fair for all Americans" is a sick joke? Why don't you, someone with professional and economic clout, call out the richest of the rich on the fact that they don't and never had paid all they should for the money they earn, and how funds siphoned off into foreign bank accounts--notably in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, are not being re-invested to make this economy "strong-like-bull", as the most rich, their politicians, and their media shills report?

Why did you allow a segment of non-news reporting, a pseudo-debate between a white Conservative woman and a Black Liberal man to go unchallenged in follow-up reports? Why don't you stop wasting media time with such spectacular nonsense and instead hold uber-wealthy white men accountable to their repeated self-serving media lies about what it will take to balance the budget and end the federal deficit and national debt?

Why don't you note that if the U.S. had simply not engaged in two utterly corrupt wars for the better part of a decade--those in Iraq where there were no weapons of mass destruction, and in Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden doesn't live, we would have a very different economic reality now? I hear tell that Karzai and his cronies are not responsible people. Why, then, does the U.S. government do business with him? How fucked up is that? What sort of waste of tax payers' dollars is that?

Why don't you spend a week, or two weeks, or three weeks, of programming on AC360 and in CNN special reports, interviewing no one else but Malalai Joya and RAWA, Yanar Mohammed of Women's Freedom in Iraq, Dr. Vandana Shiva of Navdanya, Ruchira Gupta of Apne Aap, and one of your own CNN Heroes, Anuradha Koirala of Maiti Nepal, about the bloody dots that your program thus far refuses to connect? Is it really beyond your scope to note the many connections between Western conglomerated media and how it silences women like those named above, U.S. militarism and its corruption, ecocidal environmental practices like those of BP and ExxonMobil, the exploitation of the Global South by the Global North, and sexual trafficking and slavery? Does the U.S. public have a right to hear from these women or not? Are you worried about allowing that depth of keeping the U.S. government and military honest on your program? Would you be fired the next day if you allowed those two women to speak honestly?

Why don't you do a series of reports on how the economic system is set up to protect the interests of the wealthy and punish and destroy the poor, in part by making poor youth vulnerable to being trafficked, pimped, and repeatedly raped for the pleasure and profit of very rich white men, primarily, not, as your reports indicate, for the profit going to street criminals and street pimps?

Why don't you note that if major corporations, alone, paid what they should, we wouldn't need to tax the working poor, the working class, or the middle class at all? Why don't you note how much of all the wealth, all the income made in the last ten years went to the top one percent of the richest people in the U.S.? Why don't you note, for example, that at least 80+% of ALL income was earned by the top few percent of people in this country and that should tax breaks happen for those earning less than $250,000/year and people earning $500,000 or more a year have to pay more, that will not hurt our economy or the rich AT ALL. Why don't you call it out that when the rich speak of doing what's fair, that there's nothing fair, moral, decent, or humane about what they do? They work a system organised by them and for them. Wall Street and the Rich are protected by a DADT foreign banking and corporate headquartering system that is about as dishonest, immoral, and corrupt as it gets. The IRS has a flimsy DADT policy with those uber-rich U.S. Americans and we all know it. Where's the economic "fairness" in the top five percent of U.S. Americans HOARDING the money people make in this country?

I await your reporting during your five hours of programming a week, on these and related issues. And stop wasting our time with ridiculist-worthy nonsense like this pseudo-debate "TAX CUT SHOWDOWN: GOP, Dems battle over Bush-era tax rates". A waste of media space NON-Discussion with Cornell Belcher and Dana Loesch. Anderson, why didn't you call out Ms. Loesch for being a racist/classist media shill for super-rich white boys (and a few white girls too)? Why did you even allow her onto your program? So we could watch the fireworks in this completely uninformative "debate"? Shame on you for allowing that anti-journalistic CRAP to air.

Washington (CNN) – On the same day Congressional and White House negotiators met to broker a compromise on how to deal with the Bush-era tax cuts that are expiring at the end of the year, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced that House Democrats would push ahead on a vote Thursday to permanently extend tax breaks just for those making $250,000 a year or less. Republicans argue tax cuts should be extended for everyone, including the wealthy.

Hoyer said the House bill would include permanent extensions of income tax rates for the middle class, plus tax breaks for married couples, the child tax credit, and the earned income tax credit.

The Maryland Democrat insisted that there was common ground between Republicans and Democrats on ensuring there are no tax increases for people making $250,000 or less and cited several polls showing the American public supports this approach. "We have agreement on that. There is not agreement on other aspects of issue, as you all know. But it is a shame that what we have agreement on is being held hostage by that on which we do not have agreement."

Hoyer maintained that moving forward with just a vote on the so-called middle class tax cuts would not interfere with the negotiations on the broader tax cuts, telling reporters Wednesday he spoke with the House Democratic negotiator in the talks, Maryland Democratic Rep Chris Van Hollen. "He and I both agree that this matter moving forward should not undermine negotiations on a compromise," Hoyer said.

Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN the vote was always part of the Democrats' plans and was intended to press the importance of their policy stand.

"To show our position very clearly that Democrats support tax cuts for the middle class. We think it is fairer thing to do and is necessary at this time in our economy," Pelosi said.

Hoyer emphasized that Democrats are following through on a commitment to avoid tax increases on the middle class. Republicans, he said, are the ones who decided in 2001 to let the tax cuts expire this year. "It is an effort to show, as we said before the election, that we were going to make sure the middle income working men and women of America did not have the consequences of the Republican sunset."

House GOP Whip Eric Cantor said in a statement the Democrats' plan is a "non-starter, and is completely contrary to the discussions that we had with the President yesterday at the White House. This is nothing more than political chicanery and undermines the President's ongoing discussions and efforts on tax rates."

Cantor said the tax cuts should be extended for everyone.

"We call on Speaker Pelosi and President Obama to stop the gimmicks and allow all members of the House – Republican and Democrat – to vote on legislation that would prevent tax increases for every American, "he said.

(Julian's note to Eric Cantor: why don't you own your own constituency's chicanery and gimmicks, such as corporate welfare loopholes and allowing foreign bank accounts to be untouched by the IRS? Whip those forms of corruption, why don't ya?)

Alexandra Poolos
AC360° Editorial ProducerEditor's Note: For more on this story, don't miss a special "AC360°" series, "American Slaves: Hiding in Plain Sight," tonight at 10 ET on CNN.

(CNN) - It all started with a random phone call early last summer.

Bridgette Carr, a leading attorney on trafficking cases, and I had worked together previously, and I wanted to see whether she was working on any interesting cases. Experts like Carr say that there are more slaves now than ever before. Worldwide, currently there are an estimated 12.3 million people enslaved. But last year, across the globe, only some 49,000 were rescued.

Carr hesitated for a moment on the phone before describing a case that involved dozens of young girls enslaved in Newark hair braiding salons that had taken three years to prosecute. Like many attorneys and activists who work with slavery victims, Carr is extremely protective of her clients. But she felt it was important to see how interested they might be in talking with AC360°.

The response was startling. Two of the girls, who chose not to reveal their real names, said they wanted to talk, as long as we could protect their identities and locations. The young women were very clear about their reasons for talking: Both felt it was important for Americans to know that slavery is happening in front of their very eyes.

“I just want to help other people who might be in the same situation as I was,” “Jacqueline” told me over the phone, describing the years of abuse, back-breaking work in salons, withheld meals and loss of hope that she would ever be free. “What happened to me years ago still hurts me in so many ways…but slavery is around us. And you have to recognize it. When you see a little girl doing something and they are too young for it, [you] should do something. I think of all the people who asked me how young I was, and they just believed me. They could have done something. They could have saved me.”

“Nicole” echoed the same disbelief that after years of braiding hair everyday, no one went to the authorities or questioned their made up stories of not being underage. She said that everyday she hoped a customer or one of the many owners, who had unwittingly hired them not realizing their wages were being confiscated, would notice something was wrong. “At first when the police got us, I realized that we weren’t the first,” Nicole said. “It felt like this was hidden to people in the U.S. We were there for so long. It [took] forever for us to be rescued.”

Despite their conviction that Americans should hear their stories, both girls were frightened to talk to us. The head trafficker had been sentenced to 27 years in prison, but still Nicole and Jacqueline didn’t want their locations disclosed. The closer we got to the taping date, the more anxious they became. At one point, both pulled out, saying that they would only do the interview if their faces were concealed. “I have had victims’ cars bombed for this kind of stuff,” Carr told me over the phone.

Eventually, Nicole agreed to take the risk and appear on-camera. Jacqueline felt the danger was too high. When we met both of the young women, however, they told their stories bravely and eloquently. “The traffickers, they took my childhood from me, my teen-hood. They took it from me,” Nicole said. “They took everything away from me.”

In the process of reporting, another victim named Zena came forward. She took us on a tour of the Newark neighborhood, showing us the apartments were she had been enslaved and the salons where she had worked seven days a week, sometimes 14 hours a day. “Sometimes I cry,” she said. “It's not - it was not easy living in this house. I was just stuck, and I was in prison.”

The most inspiring part of these interviews was the resilience and courage each of the survivors showed. All three of the girls have moved on with their lives - securing jobs and making plans for college.

Despite the fact that all three lived a nightmare for years, each is determined not to allow the traffickers to steal their dreams. “I have found my dreams again,” Jacqueline told us. “I just want to help other people who might be in the same situation as I was. I realize now I can do something with my life. I am smart. All the years that she took from me, I am getting them back. I have told my story before, and each time it makes me stronger. I know that every obstacle that comes my way, I know I can overcome them.”

And readers of this blog, please write in at the Live Blog for Anderson's program, and let him know which rich pimps he could be reporting on if he's truly interested in keeping them honest.

Here's your chance to talk directly to AC360° during the program. Send instant feedback and sound off on tonight's headlines. Read and react to what viewers have to say, right here, right now. JOIN AC360° LIVE BLOG:10p-11p ET